Category: Uncategorized

November 17, 2004
United Kingdom, Russia Sign MOU to Improve Efforts to Redirect Former Soviet Nuclear Weapons Personnel
GSN – British and Russian officials this month reached an agreement intended to strengthen efforts to redirect former Soviet nuclear weapons scientists and technicians to commercial work. More.

November 17, 2004
Russia set to meet chemical weapons destruction deadline
Ria Novosti – By the middle of this November, Russia had destroyed 737.5 metric tons of its Category 1 chemical agents. This figure represents 1.8% of the country’s total stockpiles, which stand at 40,000 tons. More.

November 15, 2004
Lugar to Introduce New CTR Legislation
GSN – U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) is set to introduce new legislation tomorrow intended to increase U.S. nonproliferation efforts outside of the former Soviet Union. More.

November 15, 2004
Former Soviet States Express Support for PSI
GSN – Russia and five other former Soviet states issued their support Friday for the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, which seeks to interdict WMD-related cargo shipments, according to the Associated Press. More.

November 12, 2004
Russia To Destroy ICBM Silo in Chelyabinsk Oblast
Interfax/AVN – The next silo of a regiment manning RS-20 (Satan) intercontinental ballistic missiles in the Chelyabinsk region will be blown up on Friday, a source in the Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency. More.

November 12, 2004
Interview with Green Cross Russia President on chemical weapons destruction
Radio Mayak 24 – A two-day public forum on Russia’s compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention has just ended in Moscow. It was a truly unique forum. We plan to tell you the details today. More.

November 12, 2004
Construction cost of MOX fuel plant estimated at 29 billion rubles
Interfax – The construction of a mixed uranium- plutonium (MOX) fuel plant for Russian and foreign water cooled type VVER-1000 and PWR reactors will cost an estimated 29 billion rubles, according to a report posted on the Siberian Chemical Plant’s website. More.

November 12, 2004
Russia supports the Proliferation Security Initiative
BBC/Itar Tass – The member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) consider the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) as “one of the most important elements of international community’s joint efforts not to allow the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”, says the statement adopted at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the CSTO members states held in Moscow today. More.

November 11, 2004
Russia to cut number of foreign watchdogs thanks to technology
BBC/Itar Tass – Russia is cutting the number of foreign inspectors involved in checking the chemical weapons storage facilities by introducing technical means of monitoring. More.

November 10, 2004
Norway sponsored radiation monitoring at Polyarninsky shipyard
Bellona – The shipyard signed the contract on installation of the Picasso radiation monitoring system. More.

November 10, 2004
Russia building environmental system for chemical disarmament
Interfax – Russia is working to fulfill the environmental requirements for chemical disarmament and is creating state and regional systems of environmental control and monitoring, said Federal Industry Agency deputy head Viktor Kholstov. More.

November 10, 2004
Russia destroys over 737 tonnes of chemical weapons
Interfax – A report released on November 10 says that Russian facilities have disposed of about 737.5 tonnes of chemical agents. More.

November 10, 2004
Russia increases funding for chemical weapons disposal
Itar Tass – The budget financing of work to dispose of Russia’s chemical weapons in 2005 will allow destroying 20 percent of war gases, said Viktor Kholstov, deputy chief of the Federal Industry Agency. More.

November 9, 2004
First N-sub scrapped under Russian-Japanese project
Itar Tass – The Primorye Territory scrapped first nuclear submarine of the Viktor-3 class, written off by the Pacific Fleet. The cutting of the submarine’s hull and unloading of nuclear fuel were done under the Russian-Japanese project “Star of hope” at the Zvezda (Star) shipyard in the city of Bolshoi Kamen, said on Tuesday chief of the shipyard’s scrapping section Alexander Kiselev. More.

November 9, 2004
Russia, U.S. to harmonize nukes storage, carriage rules
Interfax – A coordinating group has been set up at Russia’s Defense Ministry to harmonize Russian principles for the safe storage and transportation of nuclear weapons with those of the United States and map out military cooperation guidelines, ministry sources told Interfax. More.

November 8, 2004
Americans try to “cheat” Russia into nuclear disarmament
BBC/Komsomolskaya Pravda – The United States behind the facade of partnership is trying to cheat Russia into disarmament and undermine its nuclear capabilities and national security. More.

November 8, 2004
Armenia strengthens control over radioactive material
Bellona – The Armenian government approved the licensing order of the radioactive materials, RIA-Novosti reported. The new order should prevent illegal shipment of the materials and equipment containing radioactive materials and protect the population from the hazardous irradiation. More.

November 5, 2004
Italy helps Russia dismantle nuclear-powered missile cruiser
BBC/Itar Tass – The surface ship formerly known as the Admiral Ushakov, a heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser of the Northern Fleet awaiting disposal moored at the Zvezdochka military shipyard in Severodvinsk, is being dismantled with Italy’s help. More.

November 5, 2004
Specialists praise safety level at Bilibino NPP
Itar Tass – A commission made up of specialists from the Rosenergoatom Agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Russian Interior Ministry has inspected the Bilibino Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) for the purpose of establishing the level of counterterrorist safety there. More.

November 4, 2004
Russian Green Cross President on Progress in Chemical Weapons Destruction
Vremya Novostey – Interview with Sergey Baranovskiy, president of Russian Green Cross, academician of Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and member of State Commission on Chemical Disarmament: “We Do Not Handcuff Ourselves to the Front Doors of Chemical Plants.” More.

November 4, 2004
Rosatom’s Antipov stumps for international help, not supervision
Bellona – In a wide-ranging interview following the IAEA’s Contact Expert Group, or CEG, meeting in Moscow, deputy Rosatom chief Sergei Antipov advocated for a guiding structure among nations donating funding to Russia’s nuclear clean up, but rejected the notion of an international coordinating structure to oversee nuclear remediation efforts. More.

November 4, 2004
Memorandum of Understanding being signed with Russia today
DTI – A multi-million pound DTI programme to help former nuclear weapons workers in Russia find new jobs is receiving a boost today with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the DTI and the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (RosAtom). More.

November 4, 2004
UK to spend millions on Nuclear Towns program in Russia
Interfax – Britain intends to appropriate two million to three million pounds annually on the Nuclear Towns program, Vladimir Sterekhov of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency’s international unit told Interfax on Thursday. More.

November 3, 2004
Special panel to check BNPS ability to resist terrorist attack
Itar Tass – The ability of the Bilibino nuclear power station (BNPS) to resist terrorist attacks is to be inspected by a special commission, which includes specialists of the Rosenergoatom Company, the Federal Security Service and the Ministry of the Interior of Russia, BNPS Deputy Director Sergei Ignatov has told Itar-Tass. More.

November 3, 2004
Intl terrorists may obtain nuclear materials – Russian expert
Interfax – International terrorists are capable of obtaining nuclear materials and making a “dirty bomb,” a Russian military expert said. More.

November 3, 2004
Italy will help Russia destroy nuclear and chemical weapons
Ria Novosti – Italy is expected to take part in the program for the destruction of Russian nuclear and chemical weapons in the near future, Corriere dela Sera wrote on Tuesday. More.

November 2, 2004
Over 40 kilos of radioactive metal found in lorry in Urals
BBC/Itar Tass – Forty-four kg of radioactive scrap metal have been found in Chelyabinsk, deputy head of the public relations department of the regional main internal affairs department Igor Buzuyev told ITAR-TASS today. More.

November 2, 2004
War-grade plutonium has never been missing in Russia – expert
Itar Tass – Not a single case of missing war-grade plutonium has been registered in Russia, spokesman for the Federal Atomic Energy Agency Nikolai Shingaryov told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. More.

November 2, 2004
8 containers of plutonium given to police in Siberia
Interfax – A resident of Zmeinogorsk in Altai territory, Siberia has surrendered eight containers of plutonium 238 to the police, city police headquarters told Interfax. More.

November 1, 2004
Putin calls for quick adoption of nuclear terrorism suppression convention
Interfax – Russian President Vladimir Putin has stressed the importance of the adoption of a draft international convention for the suppression of acts of nuclear terrorism at the current session of the UN General Assembly. More.